Los Angeles DA George Gascon sued by over 20 DAs from his own office for allegedly protecting top aide charged with felonies

The union that represents hundreds of Los Angeles prosecutors has filed a lawsuit against embattled progressive District Attorney George Gascon for allegedly violating the California Public Records Act (CPRA) by withholding information on a top aide in his office who has been charged with 11 felony crimes. Gascon is currently facing more than 20 lawsuits from individual prosecutors and four from their union.

In May, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) requested information regarding Diana Teran, a senior Gascon official who is currently facing felony charges. Teran is a former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department advisor who later oversaw ethics and integrity operations at the DA's office. According to a 200-page court filing that was disclosed on Thursday, the ADDA received an incomplete response. Prosecutors sought to receive Teran's correspondence and information regarding her employment status with the county following her indictment. Additionally, they inquired as to whether county taxpayers were responsible for her criminal defense, as reported by Fox News.

The lawsuit aims to force Gascon's office to disclose the requested records and declare the DA in violation of the CPRA. It also asks that the DA's office fund the union's attorney expenses for the lawsuit and the denied requests.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who now runs a Los Angeles-based private practice, said: "These are public records, and the union and other members of the public have a right to this information."

He stated that the county lawyers and the embattled DA may be attempting to postpone the release of damaging information to the public until after Election Day.

"Of course, Teran is a high-ranking deputy DA and a close ally of Gascon, who is facing a tough challenger in November, and the union has sued Gascon before during his tumultuous first term," Rahmani said.


Diana Teran. Photo: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office

In April, California Attorney General Robert Bonta announced a felony indictment against Teran for allegedly stealing computer files containing information on Los Angeles sheriff's deputies and using them improperly for years after her employment with the department had terminated. Teran's defense counsel has expressed confidence that she would overcome the charges.

"The California Public Records Act clearly mandates that public agencies must promptly provide access to public records without unnecessary delays," said Ryan Erlich, the vice president of the ADDA. "Yet, George Gascon has consistently violated the law by unlawfully delaying and obstructing the process."
 

Gascon's office has a repeated history of denying similar public records requests. It refused to hand over records to Fox News seeking information about how much taxpayer money has been spent defending the DA from previous lawsuits against him filed by the ADDA.

"They have repeatedly stalled, delayed, or outright ignored numerous requests," said Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, who has filed a separate lawsuit against Gascon on whistleblower retaliation allegations.

In contrast to other states, California's public records law does not include a pre-existing procedure for appealing a denial to a higher authority, forcing record seekers to file a lawsuit against the agency if they are denied access to the records in an improper manner.

"George Gascon believes that because he is the district attorney, not only does he not have to follow the law, but he is actually about it," Lewin added. "He's going to find out in less than two months that he's not above the law. He's going to lose this election, and he'll spend the next several years as a defendant in a courtroom defending the 20-plus lawsuits that are going to cost the county in excess of a hundred million dollars."

The District Attorney is currently facing more than 20 lawsuits from individual prosecutors and four from their union.

"It's deeply troubling that we are once again forced to take legal action simply to obtain public documents that should be readily available," ADDA President Michele Hanisee said.

Nathan Hochman, the hard-on-crime attorney running to oust Gascon in the forthcoming election, criticized his opponent for the substantial number of judicial battles he is currently involved in from his own office.

"It appears that Mr. Gascon once again needs a civics lesson about how a democracy works," Hochman told Fox News. "Maybe if Gascon did a better job of standing up for crime victims instead of his own self-interests and extreme political ideology, he wouldn't have so much to hide. It's unfortunate that, once again, Gascon's own prosecutors have been forced to sue him in order to get him to comply with the law."

In 2022, George Gascon narrowly escaped a high-profile recall effort, after petitioners failed to garner enough valid signatures for the effort to appear on the ballot. Voters were fed up with Gascon's lack of prosecutions, claiming the DA had cultivated an environment that placed criminals before victims by treating his office as a revolving door for repeat offenders. Gascon's campaign was heavily financed by controversial Democrat billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who has made an effort to elect progressive soft-on-crime prosecutors as DA's across the nation.